AN INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING
THROUGH C++
with
Manoj Prabhakaran
Lecture 3
Conditional Loops
Loops and conditions meet
Based on material developed by Prof. Abhiram G. Ranade
So far
¥ Control flow: sequential, repeat loops, if-else conditions
¥ Variables, types (int, char, bool), operators, expressions
¥ Assignment
Today
¥ Conditional Loops
Chapter 7 in the textbook
¥ while loops and for loops
¥ More operators and expressions
Re
c
Drive the Turtle Around
al
l
bool done = false;
cout << "Enter f for forward, r for right, l for left, q to quit: ";
repeat(100) { a priori limit on number of iterations
if (!done) {
even after being done, condition checks are repeated
char input;
cin >> input;
if (input == 'f' || input == 'F') forward(100);
else if (input == 'r' || input == 'R') right(90);
else if (input == 'l' || input == 'L') left(90);
else if (input == 'q' || input == 'Q') done = true;
else cout << "Invalid input. Ignoring." << endl;
}
}
Drive the Turtle Around
bool done = false;
cout << "Enter f for forward, r for right, l for left, q to quit: ";
while (!done) {
char input;
cin >> input;
if (input == 'f' || input == 'F') forward(100);
else if (input == 'r' || input == 'R') right(90);
else if (input == 'l' || input == 'L') left(90);
else if (input == 'q' || input == 'Q') done = true;
else cout << "Invalid input. Ignoring." << endl;
}
while Statement
¥ Syntax:
while (condition) { body }
¥ Semantics: Repeat the following until finished: Evaluate condition; if
condition holds, execute body, else finish.
¥ Some examples: same as (i = i + 2)
¥ int i = 0; while(i<10){ cout << (i+=2) << endl; }
¥ int i = 0; while(false){ cout << (i+=2) << endl; }
¥ What if we replace false with true? // bad idea!
while Example: Number of Digits
unsigned int num; cout >> "Enter a non-negative integer: "; cin >> num;
// find smallest d>0 s.t. num < 10^d
int d = 1; // note: even for num==0, we need one digit to write it
int tpd = 10; // stands for "ten power d", tpd = 10^d
while (num >= tpd) {
d += 1; Can also be written as ++d;
tpd *= 10;
same as tpd = tpd * 10;
}
// when we exit the loop, num < 10^d, and this is the smallest such d
cout << num << " has " << d << " digits " << endl;
while Example: Reading in a Number
cin >> noskipws; // don't skip whitespace (we will do it ourselves)
char c;
bool gotDigit = false;
while(!gotDigit) { // ignore non-digit characters
cin >> c;
if (c >= '0' && c <= '9') // chars can be compared. '0',..,'9' in that order.
gotDigit = true;
} // c has a digit now Compiler automatically converts
unsigned int n = 0; this to an integer-valued expression
bool done = false;
while(!done) {
n = n*10 + (c-'0');
cin >> c;
if (c < '0' || c > '9')
done = true;
} // c has a non-digit now
cout << "Read number " << n << endl;
while Example: Reading in a Number
cin >> noskipws; // don't skip whitespace (we will do it ourselves)
char c;
bool gotDigit = false;
do {
cin >> c;
if (c >= '0' && c <= '9') // chars can be compared. '0',..,'9' in that order.
gotDigit = true;
} while(!gotDigit)
unsigned int n = 0;
bool done = false;
do {
n = n*10 + (c-'0');
cin >> c;
if (c < '0' || c > '9')
done = true;
} while(!done)
cout << "Read number " << n << endl;
while and do-while Statements
¥ Syntax: ¥ Syntax:
while (condition) { body } do { body } while (condition)
¥ Semantics: Repeat the following ¥ Semantics: Equivalent to
until finished: { body }
evaluate condition; while (condition) { body }
if condition holds, ¥ Compared to while, can avoid
execute body, one condition evaluation, if it
else finish. anyway holds at the beginning
¥ Less commonly used structure
break to Exit a Loop
cin >> noskipws; cin >> noskipws;
char c; char c;
bool gotDigit = false;
while(!gotDigit) { while(true) {
cin >> c; cin >> c;
if (c >= '0' && c <= '9') if (c >= '0' && c <= '9')
gotDigit = true; break;
} // c has a digit now } // c has a digit now
unsigned int n = 0; unsigned int n = 0;
bool done = false; equivalent
while(!done ) { while(true) {
n = n*10 + (c-'0'); n = n*10 + (c-'0');
cin >> c; cin >> c;
if (c < '0' || c > '9') if (c < '0' || c > '9')
done = true; break;
} // c has a non-digit now } // c has a non-digit now
cout << "Read number " << n << endl; cout << "Read number " << n << endl;
break Statement Demo
¥ Syntax: break; is a full statement by itself
¥ Semantics: Immediately exit the loop in which the statement
appears. Expression has the
value before
incrementing
¥ Example:
¥ int i = 0; ¥ int i = 0;
while (true) { while (true) {
cout << ++i << endl; cout << i++ << endl;
if (i>4) break; if (i>4) break;
} }
break Example: Smallest Prime Factor
int x, d;
cin >> x;
if (x == 1 || x == -1) {
cout << x << " has no prime factors!" << endl;
} else {
d = 2;
while(true) {
if (x%d == 0)
break;
++d;
}
cout << "Smallest prime factor of " << x << " is " << d << endl;
}
break and continue Example: Factorisation
while(true) {
cout << "Enter a non-negative number (0 to exit) : ";
unsigned int x; cin >> x;
if (x == 0) break; // exiting the loop
if (x == 1) {
cout << "1 has no prime factors!" << endl;
continue; // done with this iteration! continue on to the next.
}
int d = 2; // next factor to be checked. start with 2.
while ( x > 1) { // as long as x has a prime factor left
while(x%d == 0) { // find and remove all factors of d from x
x /= d;
cout << d << " ";
} // no more factors of d
++d; // try next number
}
}
Demo
break and continue Statements
¥ Syntax: break; is a full ¥ Syntax: continue; is a full
statement by itself statement by itself
¥ Semantics: Immediately exit the ¥ Semantics: Immediately finish the
loop in which the statement current iteration of the loop, and
appears. proceed to the next iteration.
¥ int i = 0; ¥ int i = 0;
while (i<10) { while (i<10) {
if (++i == 4) break; if (++i == 4) continue;
cout << i << endl; cout << i << endl;
} }
for Loop
initialisation
int d = 2; for (int d = 2; x > 1; ++d) {
condition
while ( x > 1) { while(x%d == 0) {
while(x%d == 0) { x /= d;
x /= d; cout << d << " ";
cout << d << " "; }
}update }
++d;
}
for Statement
¥ Syntax: for (initialisation ; condition ; update) { body }
¥ Here initialisation , condition and update are expressions (e.g., i=0,
i==0, and ++i). initialisation can also be a variable declaration (e.g.,
int i = 0). All allowed to be empty.
¥ Semantics: initialisation; if empty, taken as true
while (condition) {
body
A continue statement in the body
continue_from: update; will bring control here (rather than
the end of the loop)
}
for Examples
repeat(n) {...} can now on be replaced with
for (int it = 0; it < n; ++it) { ... }
Beware of off-by-one
errors
for (int it = n; it > 0; --it) { ... }
for ( ; ; ) { ... }
is a "forever" loop (just like while(true)).
Needs a break statement to come out of it
for Example: Prime Factorisation
const string prompt = "Enter a non-negative number (0 to exit) : ";
unsigned int x;
for(cout << prompt, cin >> x; x!=0; cout << prompt, cin >> x ) {
cout << "Prime factors of " << x << ": ";
expr1, expr2 evaluates
if (x == 1) both (and takes on the
cout << "1 has no prime factors!" << endl; value of the second one)
else { // for each d, find and remove all factors of d from x
for (int d=2; x > 1; ++d)
for( ; x%d == 0; x /= d)
cout << d << " ";
empty cout << endl;
is OK }
}
for Example: Prime Factorisation
const string prompt = "Enter a non-negative number (0 to exit) : ";
unsigned int x;
for(cout << prompt, cin >> x; x!=0; cout << prompt, cin >> x ) {
cout << "Prime factors of " << x << ": ";
expr1, expr2 evaluates
if (x == 1) both (and takes on the
cout << "1 has no prime factors!" << endl; value of the second one)
else { // for each d, find and remove all factors of d from x
for (int d=2; x > 1; ++d)
for( ; x%d == 0; x /= d, cout << d << " ") ;
cout << endl;
empty } This is a valid expression! empty body!
is OK
} Valid but obscure! Use update
expression for "updates" only
for Example
cin >> noskipws;
char c; unsigned int n;
for(cin >> c; c<'0' || c>'9'; cin >> c);
for(n=0; c>='0' && c<='9'; n=n*10+(c-'0'),cin >> c);
cout << "Read number " << n << endl;
What does this do?
for Example: Inscribed Squares Demo
int nsqr = 4; // number of squares to draw
float side = 400, step = 5;
for (int k = 0; k < nsqr; ++k, side /= sqrt(2)) {
for (int it = 1, nsteps = side/step; it <= nsteps*4; ++it) {
// count from 1: no turn at the beginning, turn at the end
if (it % 2 == 0) penDown(); else penUp();
forward(side/nsteps); // approximately step long
if (it % nsteps == 0) right(90);
}
// prepare for the next inner square
penUp(); forward(side/2); right(45); penDown();
}
Summary
¥ while , do-while and for loops
¥ for is the most expressive, but can be hard to understand when used in non-
standard ways (especially if comments are missing)
¥ break and continue can help with simplifying the code
¥ But try to avoid them: You may be able to include the break logic in the loop's
condition and use if-else chains to avoid continue.
¥ x += y, x *= y, etc. Increment/decrement: ++x,--x (i.e., x+=1, x-=1).
¥ Also, x++ and x--: Expression has the value prior to the increment/decrement
¥ Comma operator. Expressions involving cout, cin.
¥ More types: unsigned int, string, float. Arithmetic for char.
const qualifier.
(Re)write using Interpret collision as coming
while and for loops Exercises close to each other
¥ Drive the turtle ¥ Simulate two turtles ¥ While simulating two
around, but if it tries in the same window, turtles, refuse moves
to go outside the accepting commands resulting in a collision
500x500 box, refuse for them alternately Ð Can you further allow moves
the command and (turtle pointer shows of arbitrary step sizes and
angles, via commands of the
print an error the turtle about to form "r 45", "f 30" etc.?
message move) Note that now collisions can
occur in the middle of a
Ð Keep track of two (simulated)
move, and you should refuse
turtles' positions, and which
Ð Hint: Keep track of the x and such moves too.
one is the actual turtle. When
y coordinates of the turtle
switching turtles, penUp and Ð use float type for real
move from one to the other. numbers
